


By your side

by killerweasel



Series: Need Some Company [3]
Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 16:22:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel





	By your side

Title: By your side  
Fandom: Angel  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, Angel, Cordelia Chase  
Rating: R  
Word count: 1,024  
A/N: This is AU after _Angel's Reunion_

**By your side**

“How is he?”

Running a shaky hand over my face, I leaned back in the hard, plastic chair. How long had it been since I’d eaten or slept? Thinking about it made my brain hurt too much and I gave up. “Wesley has another round of surgery tomorrow, Angel. The doctors didn’t think it would be a good idea to do it so soon after the last one.”

“That didn’t answer my question.” He took a couple of steps inside of the room and leaned against the wall. I hadn’t seen him in a while and he looked older than I remembered.

“He’s better than he was.” That was the best answer I could give him. “I was there when it happened. I didn’t think he was going to make it.” When I’d brought Wesley into the hospital, the nurse gave me a set of scrubs to wear to replace my blood-covered clothing. “Some of his insides were on the outside.” I shuddered.

Angel was quiet for a few minutes. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him watching the still form on the bed. “What about Cordelia?”

“She got a little banged up, mainly cuts and bruises. Wesley got between her and the demon. He was trying to protect her.” He’d been doing just fine until his foot had slipped on something coating the warehouse floor. “It was a Rotpar demon, Angel. You know how long their claws are.”

“Why didn’t you do something?” The question was pitched just above a whisper, but I had no trouble hearing it or the accusatory tone he’d just used.

I lifted up the edge of my shirt, revealing a series of deep gashes along my side, some of which were still oozing blood. “I was busy with my own demon.”

Angel came over and sat down in the chair next to mine. “How did you manage to talk Cordelia into going home?”

“I told her if she didn’t get some rest that I was going to pick her up over my shoulder and carry her out of here kicking and screaming.” A tiny smile crossed my lips. “I would have done it too.”

“I should have been there.” He shook his head. “This is my fault.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “It might have happened even if you were there, Angel. Shit happens and we can’t control it. We just pick up the pieces afterwards and try to keep going. That’s all we can do.”

“They opened a new agency, but kept the name?” I wasn’t sure if that was a question directed at me or not, so I just nodded. “And you’re what? Helping them?” Another nod. “Why would you do that?”

“Cordelia asked me to.”

Angel started to say something when one of the nurses came in. We stayed quiet while she checked the various machines attached to Wesley, marked something on the chart, and then walked out again. “You should go eat, Lindsey. Maybe get some rest too.”

“As much as I’d love to, I don’t want to leave him alone.” My stomach protested this line of reasoning. A wave of exhaustion swept through me and I slumped down in the chair. “Besides, I told her I’d make sure he was safe.”

Angel reached out, setting his hand on my shoulder. “He’s safe. I’m here.”

I stared at him for a moment. “Are you sure about that, Angel?” The way Angel was acting now, this was as close to the old version of himself I’d seen since before he’d closed the doors to the wine cellar. It suddenly occurred to me that he’d had a crisis of faith like the one Holland had talked to me about when I helped save the blind kids. He’d needed to figure out where he belonged.

“I’m sure.” There was no hesitation at all in his reply.

I eased my body out of the chair, hissing as a fresh bolt of pain went through my wounded side. “You know you’re going to have to do a lot more than just be here in this room, right?” He’d shut them out and it might be a while before they decided to let him back in again.

“I know.”

\---

“What are you doing here? You said you’d stay at the hospital!” Cordelia jabbed me in the chest with one of her nails, making me yelp.

I took a couple steps away from her to keep from being jabbed again. “He’s not alone, Cordelia.”

She frowned in confusion. “But Gunn’s out with his group chasing down the demons that got away. So who’s with... Oh.”

“He got the message you left on the machine.” I started to sway on my feet and Cordelia put her hand out to steady me.

“Go get cleaned up, Lindsey. I’ll call your friend and have him bring over some blood.” The fingers of Cordelia’s free hand brushed against my cheek. “You know what happened wasn’t your fault, right?”

“Yeah.” I certainly didn’t sound like I meant it though. The entire thing had been a giant mess from start to finish. Maybe things would have turned out differently if we’d waited for Gunn to show up before heading to the warehouse to deal with the demons. And we hadn’t known there were a lot more demons than Cordelia had seen in her vision. By the time Gunn had arrived, Wesley was on the ground bleeding to death, Cordelia had been hurt, and I was doing my best to keep the demons away from both of them.

“Go on. Shoo.” Cordelia made shooing motions at me. “You look like you’re going to fall on your face. Once you’re clean, and you’ve had something to eat, you can sleep on my bed if you want. I need to head to the hospital.”

“You’re really going to let me sleep in your bed?” My eyebrows shot up. “Is there an apocalypse I don’t know about?” She swatted me on the back of the head. “Ow.”

“Very funny, Lindsey.” Cordelia gave me a look. “And don’t drool on my pillow.”

“Yes, ma’am.”


End file.
